


Fire Escape Matchmaker

by Chaneladdict



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Flirting, Background Relationships, F/F, F/M, Happy Ending, Modern Era, One Shot, Pure shameless fluff, nerds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-16
Updated: 2016-01-16
Packaged: 2018-05-14 08:30:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5736724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chaneladdict/pseuds/Chaneladdict
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based off a tumblr prompt! </p><p>It's not that Peggy dislikes animals, she loves them, she just loves sleep after night shifts more. Sadly for her, her neighbour's cat won't stop crying at her bedroom window. The cat's owner just happens to be the cute guy from upstairs who collects his mail in his underwear a lot. She doesn't want to report his fine ass, she just wants some sleep! </p><p>Charming crushes and too much vodka later, she might have a solution. </p><p>Pure fluff, in more ways than one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fire Escape Matchmaker

**Author's Note:**

> Based off a Tumblr prompt - PROMPT! Okay, I (Peggy) don’t want to be that jerk but our building has a strict No Pet Policy and your (Bucky) cat will not stop meowing and and I WILL report you and oh no you’re cute. Because you made me ship them.
> 
> All the hot neighbour tropes you can shake a stick at, there's also a cute af cat, and an unamused Natasha and a very animated Angie thrown into the mix. Enjoy and review if you like! xox

##  **_Fire Escape Matchmaker_ **

“ _Meow_ ”

“No. Go away. Go AWAY. AWAY!” Peggy shouted from her bed. She really wasn’t in the mood for this - again! It was to no avail, however, as the pesky little fur-ball just kept on crying at her through her window.

“We’re nine floors up, how in the hell are you climbing that far! Go away!” She slammed her head under two pillows, this time, having lost her third in a futile attempt at scaring off the noise machine outside her window. She had been on nights at work for a week, and every morning when she’d attempted to sleep, that cat was out there just whining away, looking for attention. She had asked her neighbours on either side if it was theirs, but no one was willing to claim the little grey cat.

It wasn’t until almost a month later, a week after she’d come back from a three-week work thing in London that she found the owner. Accidentally, and maybe a little forcefully, she accused the man in his underwear of owning the cat, since he was holding it and all.

“It’s yours?” she asked, rude, sure but she’d really had enough. The guy was tall, with slept-on dark brown hair sticking up in places. He was obviously half asleep as evidence as to why he was half naked in the lobby of their building, mail and cat in hand.

“ _Huh_?”

Peggy nodded pointedly.

“The cat?”

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry um, yeah Ruby’s mine.”

“You call your cat Ruby?”

He continued to snuggle her close, petting her with his free hand. He smiled at her and then to Peggy.

“Yeah, I mean what was I meant to call her? Fluffy? That’s not original. Besides, I was watching Girl, Interrupted the night before she found me, so…”

She didn’t understand the vague movie reference. She’d seen the movie, sure, but wouldn’t it have been better to name the cat Jolie or something? She shook her head.

“Great, fine, anyway, listen she’s obsessed with my bedroom window, is there any way at all you could… I don’t know, keep her away from it?”

“Ruby, are you being a pervert? We’ve talked about this!” he said to the cat and oh, God, if he was one of those that answered back for the cat she was going to run away. Thankfully he didn’t. Instead, he looked at Peggy and rolled his eyes.

“Where you at?”

“Uh, 9A?” she answered.

“Ah, I’m 8A she likes to hang out on the fire escape. She hates being cooped up inside.”

He was petting her and she was purring so loudly it was actually comical, had she cared, which she didn’t.

“You don’t like cats?” he asked then, eyeing her.

“No … I like them just fine, I just like sleep more.”

He nodded.

“Sorry, I’ll try and keep a closer eye on her, okay?”

Peggy nodded, then smiled.

“Great, thank you.” She was suddenly very aware of how almost-naked he was as he walked with her to the elevator. She should have taken the stairs.

“I’m Bucky, by the way, you’re M. Carter right?”

She narrowed her eyes.

“Mailbox. 9A. M. Carter.”

“Oh. Yes, Peggy actually.”

He nodded.

“Good to meet you, Peggy. This is, as you know, _Ruby_. She’s a whore for tuna and her scratching post. And apparently, annoying my upstairs neighbour. Sorry, again.”

Ruby was nosy, sniffing at Peggy from Bucky’s arms. She didn’t recoil exactly, it was just, her coat WAS Armani.

“She won’t bite unless you have tuna,” he smiled. “She’s a British short hair, so the vet said. Which is funny because you’re-”

“British, right,” she nodded, with a half smile. It wasn’t funny and as attractive as this 8A Bucky was, his jokes were lame. His abs on the other hand…

The elevator stopped and he nodded.

“See you around, Peggy.”

“You too, Bucky.” And he exited, and she only maybe watched his cute little bum as he walked away, and the light hit it just so that his boxers were then transparent. She smiled. It was the little things that made her day, his cute little tush walking away from her was one of those things.

*******

Cute bum and chiseled abs, bright eyes and a devilish smirk were one thing - or okay, four things, but a man of his word he most certainly was not. Two days later after a particularly shittatic night mission, Peggy was attempting to sleep when Ruby the little bitch decided to scratch at her window, this time with added cries.

“Ugh, what is your damage? Your hot owner will feed you, leave me _alooone_!” she attempted but it fell on deaf, fluffy ears. Twenty minutes of it, it was all she could take before she marched over to the window, opened it and grabbed the cat.

“Seriously, you need to chill the fuck out. Where is your owner huh? Come on.” Ruby instantly purred when held, and kept on purring as Peggy grabbed her keys and marched to the elevator, and marched just as purposely to 8A.

“Stop snuggling me, this is not a thing, okay?” she whispered as she knocked, and a second later an unamused redhead woman answered the door.

“Why do you have the cat?”

“My thoughts exactly. Hi, I’m-”

“Peggy?”

“Uh, yes?”

“British, cute … mouthy. He’s mentioned you.”

She was NOT mouthy. Well, I mean okay maybe she had just accosted him in the lobby at the time, but still.

“Great, listen,” she handed her to the red head. “Can you-” at that Bucky appeared behind the redhead.

“Oh hey, Peg.”

She attempted to not cringe at the nickname. They were not close enough for that.

“Hi. _Listen_ -”

“Bugging you again, huh? Sorry, I let her out to use her box and she got away I figured she’d just chill there but I guess not? Sorry … she obviously woke you.” He took the cat from Red then and Peggy

followed Red’s eye-line. She was not so subtly checking her out, making her blush a little as she realised she was standing there in her sleep shorts and a tank top, sans bra. She didn’t have the dainty tits to go sans bra anywhere, least of all a cold hallway.

She folded her arms, which only served to push her boobs up. Great.

“Please just … keep her inside for a little while? Not to be an asshole, but you know this building has a strict no pets policy and well, you know, it’s a policy for a reason.” She shrugged and his smile disappeared. Red’s eyes widened. And Peggy felt like a dick.

“Oooh, she’s going to report your ass for having that fluff ball, James,” Red said, clearly mocking.

He narrowed his eyes at her, hugging Ruby closer.

“Fine. Thanks for bringing her back.” And at that, the door was unceremoniously slammed in her face.

Well all right then! She was slightly mortified, looking either side of the hallway to see if anyone witnessed her moment of embarrassment. Clear that she was alone and sleep deprived, and her nipples were totally completely on show, she padded back to the elevator, and back home.

Frozen and pissed off.

How dare he! She was only stating facts! Things she might have muttered to herself as she almost face-planted into bed for the next seven hours.

She didn’t see or hear the cat again for almost a week. On a Saturday when she’d been on a spring cleaning binge and her apartment was resembling that of a grown woman and less of a teenage tearaway on vacation, she saw what was squaring up to be a fight on her fire escape.

There was Ruby in all her grey-blue glory, squaring up against a big ass pigeon. Not just regular bird sized, but fucking huge. Twice the size of little Ruby, maybe more. The cat was hissing, backed into a corner. For a city cat she really sucked at the whole food chain thing, but given the size of the damn bird, Peggy wasn’t sure she blamed her. So she did what any normal person would do. She opened her window, grabbed the cat and flapped at the bird like a crazy person until it fucked right off.

Ruby was shaking and Peggy felt bad, bad enough that she even gave her a tin of tuna, served in an old washed plastic take out container. She lapped it up, purring happily instantly, and Peggy fought her smile.

“Yeah okay, so you are kind of cute. I wasn’t about to let you die you know? And oh god, now I’m talking to you.”

She wasn’t sure how Ruby got from the floor to the couch, to her lap, to getting petted within an inch of one of her lives, to snuggling happily as Peggy continued her Netflix binge with a bottle of wine at four in the afternoon. But, somehow she did, and somehow Peggy fell asleep, cat in lap, because she was woken to the sound of her door being knocked in a none too polite manner.

She opened it fast, without checking her hair, which she was sure was less than neat. It was Bucky looking all sharp and sexy in a black leather jacket and black jeans and a white shirt. He was wearing a smell that she caught as she opened the door, and it was, all in all, a good deal from him.

“Hey have you seen-” at that he looked past her to see his cat snoozing on her couch.

“Yeah she’s here … There was a pigeon.”

“A bird?” he asked.

“It was big and she wasn’t able to fight it off. You really need to teach your furry child some self-defense, she’s a _city_ cat, not some uneducated hick, and while we’re at it, she’s not exactly named right either.”

Bucky folded his arms, a smirk across his stupidly distracting mouth.

“Is that right?”

“She’s grey, what kind of cruel joke is it exactly to name her RUBY. Honestly.”

He laughed at that.

“Peggy, are you drunk?”

She bit her lip.

“It was a hard week at work, alright? And there was wine and maybe I finished the bottle.”

He nodded.

“I respect that. But um…” he nodded to the cat. “I should take her. I’ve been looking for her for ages, and I didn’t want to leave her outside before I left,” he sighed as she waved him in, shuffling back to her couch, her blanket and his sleeping cat. “Anyway, thanks for saving her I guess.”

“Don’t mention it, actually, consider it my apology for acting like a complete bitch the other day. I was extremely sleep deprived. But good news, no more nights in my schedule. So I can start functioning like a regular human again soon.”

He nodded.

“That’s good right?”

“It’s very good. I got a promotion, so its mostly boring desk work for the next six months, which my brain might hate, but my body needs the break, so…” she shrugged, they both looked at the sleeping cat before Bucky lifted her.

“Thanks again, and um I’m sorry too for what it’s worth, I was rude-”

“No-” she attempted but he cut her off.

“I was. I just got pissed and was rude I should have handled it better-”

“Bucky, I was being a tool. I would never report her, I mean she’s loud and opinionated but fluffy and cuddly underneath it all,” Peggy smiled. “We’ve more in common than not, I’d never tell on her.”

He smiled then.

“Thanks, Peg.”

She found she didn’t cringe at the nickname this time. Interesting. It had nothing to do with the cute way his eyes crinkled at the sides when he smiled as he said it, not at all.

******************

“So just take the leave, become a cliche, go travel and enjoy your damn self. Listen, I won’t say it twice, you need a break,” Peggy emoted as she sat in the booth of her local, with her co-worker and all around work bestie Angela.

“Hi, pot … where’s kettle?”

“I know, but look at me, I got the promotion.” At that Angie raised her glass and they clinked. “And it means human hours and a desk for the foreseeable future. And, I think I get the office next to Stark’s so there’s that. All those walls and natural light.” Peggy sighed happily. “But you’ve been shitpiled with Rumlow for fuck sakes and no one deserves THAT.” At that Peggy blushed as Bucky had walked in and seen her. He waved, so she waved back, mid-sentence.

Angie was not subtle and turned to look right at him.

“Ohh, who’s that?”

“No one … well no, he’s a guy that lives in my building.”

“Oh,” she cooed, “he’s cute. That his girlfriend?”

And sure enough Red was with him.

“I guess so.”

“She’s hotter,” Angie shrugged, taking a sip of her whiskey.

“You think anyone with boobs is hotter.”

He looked good though, signature leather jacket and dark jeans. He had disappeared from her eye line and she continued her conversation with Angie. Pee breaks were needed as Angie slinked off, and Peggy went to the bar to order another round. She stood attempting to get the bartenders attentions she felt him come up behind her.

“Hey neighbour,” he stated. Up close – almost pressed against her back – she forgot how tall he was. She turned and with the crowd they were barely an inch apart. His smile was easy and bright. He was holding a beer in his hand, he’d lost his jacket at some point and was all lean muscle and wide chested in a grey t-shirt.

“Hi Bucky.”

“Can I buy you … and your friend a drink?”

“Won’t your girlfriend think that’s a little strange?”

“She might, if she existed,” he mused before sipping his beer.

He nodded to the back of the bar where the bathrooms were. Angie and Red were standing, animatedly - at least on Angie’s end, conversing.

“Oh.”

“Natasha isn’t my girl, she’s my roommate and sometimes unwitting therapist, and unwanted match maker. I’m not her type, as you can kinda see.”

At that Peggy felt incredibly stupid, so she agreed to let him buy them a drink, promising that the next round was on her. A few minutes of small talk later and Red - Natasha - and Angie returned to their sides.

“Peggy you didn’t tell me such amazing people lived in your building,” Angie beamed, raising her brows at Peggy in the old ‘oh my fucking GOD’ pose.

“I tell you about Mrs. Gunderson frequently,” Peggy deadpanned and only Bucky laughed.

“Gunderson’s a WWII vet and a total badass,” Bucky confirmed and Peggy smiled, glad that he knew her.

“Natasha here is a Human Rights liaison, isn’t that fascinating?” Angie added. There might have been a swoon. Peggy nodded politely. It probably was impressive, but neither woman was looking at her. Bucky smirked and widened his eyes at Peggy before rolling them, making her laugh.

“What are you ladies drinking, anyway?”

*****

An hour or more later they were all in deep debate about The Oscars and whether it really is a pointless, inane, back slapping institution or if it really did favour real talent. Bucky was for the talent but against the swag, Angie was there for the fashion, Natasha hated Hollywood, and Peggy liked to argue that both things were valid. Besides, watching him get all passionately annoyed was half the fun.

“Do you know how much it costs to run that thing every year? So much! So much that could go to education, to vets, to anything other than what the fuck kind of dress Meryl Streep is wearing.”

Angie gasped.

“There will be no insulting The Streep in my presence, Barnes.” It made Natasha laugh, and that was a thing she wasn’t sure she’d see on her face. She half expected her face to crack. A couple more drinks in, and Peggy was done. Angie was keyed up and apparently all kinds of in love with the red head.

“Come out to the club with us please?” she begged during one of their twinsies bathroom breaks. “She’s fun and hot and I wanna dance. The night is young.”

“Ah, but _I_ am not.”

“You’re thirty-four please stop with the geriatric routine.” She rolled her eyes, reapplying her lipstick.

“I’m beat, really. But you go, honestly. You were going to meet Sharon there with her girl anyway right?”

Angie shrugged.

“You used to be more fun.”

“I’m still fun, I just like sleep when I haven’t had any. I’ll go next week, I promise.”

Angie didn’t believe her, but suddenly it didn’t matter.

“Anyway, if Nat goes with me, that means,” she sounded out, spraying perfume, “that Bucky gets to take you home.”

Peggy rolled her eyes.

“Out. Matchmaker from hell.”

“What? He’s cute!”

**************

A cab sat curbside of the bar, Bucky insisting he was still very much not in the mood to go dancing with crazy women on the other side of Brooklyn, and Peggy once more wriggled out of Angie’s, ‘oh come on’ arguments, leaving them splitting up and Natasha being as subtle as Angie when she insisted that Bucky walk Peggy home.

“We live in the same building, maybe she’s walking me home. I’d be more scared of her than of me anyway,” he shrugged as he paid their cab for them in advance and closed the door on his friends arguments. “Have fun, you guys.”

He took a deep breath as they pulled away.

“Well, that went well.”

Peggy laughed.

They took to walking the three short blocks to their building side by side silently.

“You lived with Natasha long?”

“About a year, maybe just over? She’s good people trust me, your friend is in safe, if a little bold, hands.”

Peggy smiled.

“I think she could use a little bold. Angie, she’s a good person, bleeding heart though.”

“Nat acts tough but she’s a big old softie, just don’t tell her I said that. She’s a black belt in a bunch of shit and is really scary too sometimes.” He looked back comically, as if she’d be behind him.

“And what about you? Are you a big sofie under all that black and leather?” Peggy asked, as she side stepped a hole in the pavement.

“You’ve met my cat.”

She smiled.

“That I have.”

“I mean, honestly she helps me more than I help her. I found her as I was waiting for a cab outside the facility the government had me in, after my discharge.”

Right, the army.

“She was in a dumpster, in a bag, someone had just … left her there.” He shook his head. “And at the time the guys were talking of how pets can help I guess. So it was fate. She’s sorta been my reminder of how far we’ve both come,” he sighed. “Sorry, I just kept on talking,” he said bashfully when he noticed Peggy looking at him. She hoped it was with the understanding she felt and not something he’d see as pity.

“I worked for MI6 for twelve years,” Peggy confessed and his eyes widened.

“Jesus!”

That made her laugh.

“So I know a little about how … isolating it is, after. It’s why I quit when Stark offered me a job.”

“Wait, Tony Stark?”

“No, Ned. Yes, Tony,” she sassed and he laughed.

“I um, I work for him too,” he confessed, scratching the back of his neck as they took the corner to walk the last street to their building.

“Dude, are you a spy?” he asked, all excited, his eyes bright and amused. So she trusted him.

“I was. Sort of. It’s not like it is on TV.”

“Don’t lie, it totally is, you absail down buildings and shit right?” He was too excited, it was cute. She giggled.

“Only once or twice,” she admitted before charging ahead and swiping the key card to their front door.

She heard behind her him faintly say, “That is so hot.”

By the time they got to the elevator, he was feeling bolder.

“So what does an ex British SPY,” he asked loudly. He’d make a terrible spy. “Do for Stark anyhow? I’m in online security.”

“Research and Development,” she confessed. “How come I haven’t seen you around?”

“For a while, after, I was um, it was difficult to leave the house. Baby steps, I guess? So I work from home a lot. I know Rhodes, he’s a good guy, he put a word in for me.”

She nodded and the elevator stopped at her floor, to her surprise he got out with her. She said nothing as he kept talking.

“But R and D is huge, so that’s a pretty big deal. Angie was saying something about a promotion?”

“You’re looking at the Department Head, as of … six-ish hours ago,” Peggy smiled and he did too, all excited again as they stood outside her door.

“Damn, that’s impressive. Well, congratulations. Really, that’s amazing.”

Her key was in her door, and the weird creeping feeling of anticipation was slowly crawling up her spine. Did she invite him in? Was he just being polite and walking her to her door? Was she reading too much into things, again?

“Thank you,” she said instead.

“Right, well, I should go,” he said, awkward as anything and Peggy panicked. She found she didn’t really want whatever this was to be over just yet.

“Or … I mean you could come in and help me finish the vodka in my freezer.”

He was blushing a little as she opened the door, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Yeah that's … that’s a good idea.”

She charged ahead, thinking if she didn’t look at him as he came into her space, she’d be fine. She went straight for the alcohol, and by the time he joined her in the kitchen – open plan looking out toward her living room, dimly lit by her lamp she’d left on before she left – she had already poured herself a glass, and was working on his. She handed it to him, wordlessly.

He took it, wordlessly.

Well, this is going swell, she thought. She all but downed her drink, and he was doing the same. It was almost comforting that he was as awkward as fuck about whatever this was, as she was. He downed the last of his drink and then looked at her, almost panic in his eyes.

“I’m … I used to be better at this,” he confessed with a slightly scared laugh, shaking his head at himself.

“Me too,” she added, pouring him another, and then herself. “Ice?”

He nodded.

She had popped the ice into the two glasses before she felt his hands snake around her waist. She froze, holding her breath. “Is this okay?” he asked, his breath hot at her ear. And yes, it was more than okay. She nodded. She really used to be smoother, she had game, she was a catch! It was just lately …

She forgot all about that though when his stupidly soft lips started kissing her neck, having pulled her hair back to do so. He was pressed up against her, and in turn pressing her against the counter top. He was so warm and lovely, she wanted to just melt into him. So, she decided to do just that for a second or ten, before his hands wandered up and skimmed her breasts, caressing softly, and yeah okay that was nice, she thought. She turned and kissed him properly, on the mouth and everything.

Points for aim, Peg!

His kiss was careful at first, hesitant, and she liked that. She liked that he wasn’t a bull in a china shop about whatever this was, and that little hesitation on his part was nice because it calmed her nerves, calmed her and made her bold as she slipped him some tongue, testing just how far this was going to go. He deepened the kiss with a sigh and slid his hands from her sides to her ass and squeezed her cheeks, pulling her closer. She squeaked very un-sexily, and it made him laugh, both of them breaking apart. She was flushed, he was too, his eyes trained on her mouth before he looked up.

“That … was nice.”

He was still holding her close by her arse, she noted mentally.

“You wanna do it on the couch?” she asked and instantly closed her eyes. “Not … _IT_ … but like, this?

Mortified.

 _She was bloody mortified_.

He dipped in to kiss her again, and yeah okay so that was good. They did move over, slowly, to the couch where she was maneuvered onto his lap with ease - she had pushed off his jacket somewhere between the kitchen and the couch, and she’d lost her shoes. He was still grabbing her arse, and she was A-okay with that.

“You’re really fucking sexy, you know that?” he breathed as they shifted, and suddenly she was underneath him, her head on her cushion. “When you’re not yelling at me.”

She pulled back from his kiss then and gave him the eyebrow which just made him laugh.

“Okay so maybe even when you are yelling at me.” And he moved in again, and this time it was her neck and she squirmed because she just wasn’t used to the sensation anymore. It had been a REALLY long time. But God, she wanted this, whatever it was, wherever it was going, she wanted it.

She was going to blame her self imposed doubt, she was going to blame the vodkas, she was going to blame Angie if she could, or just settle for blaming his mouth and everything it was doing to her because they made it from the couch to her bed sometime after making out so much she was dizzy, and frankly she needed to blame someone, because she was not a fuck on the not even a real first date kind of woman.

Except that maybe she’d have to start, because Jesus he was good at a lot of sex stuff, including but not limited to all the other places he went with that mouth and his hands. God his hands were great hands she had to admit, and then when she finally got him naked and in her bed, she realised he was good at just about everything.

It should have annoyed her really. Why was this man, this man who could fuck you through your mattress and have your toes curling like hers were, have your teeth nip your lips so much to stop from screaming out loud, this man, why was he single?

“I’m … Fuck, Peggy. I can’t feel my legs. _How_ -” he panted at that, rolling softly off her, landing beside her with a small groan, his eyes closed. “My God, woman. That…”

Yeah, she could give as good as she got, didn’t mean she wasn’t still awkward as fuck after deeds were done.

She rolled on to her stomach then, and asked, rather ineptly.

“Are you a serial killer, James Barnes?”

He cocked an eye open at that.

“Wha’?”

“Why are you single?”

“I didn’t know we let my Ma in here,” he said, his Brooklyn accent sneaking through.

She just waited.

“No, I’m not a serial killer.”

“That’s something a serial killer might say.”

“Nah, in the human handbook there’s like a bylaw that you have to admit that sort of thing if a woman you just had great sex with asks.”

“Is that so?” she smiled.

“Mmhmm. It’s like, the law. Besides, of the two of us, I’m not the ex-spy. So really which one of us _should_ be asking that question,” he grinned to himself. Oh, he thought he was funny.

“Not as funny as you think you are, hotshot.”

“Oh I’m a hotshot, hmm? Good to know.”

She just sighed.

“You’re sweet, and hot and good at … stuff.”

_Where was her brain?_

“Jee, thanks Peg.” He turned to her then, one hand softly moving to draw patterns on her chest with his finger. She sighed happily despite herself.

“I know, it’s okay.” She wasn’t sure what he was reassuring her for but it felt nice. Nice enough to panic her.

“I’m not good with being … intimate with people, okay? I’m trying, besides, I’m recovering from all of that,” she said with a poke to his chest. “It’s been awhile for me, I wasn’t kidding.” They had stilted conversation whilst getting naked, he had assured her it had been the same for him, but with those moves? Jesus, Fuck.

“For me, too. You’re actually the first crush I’ve had in a long time,” he admitted with a stretch, seamlessly getting an arm around her and snuggling her to his chest. It was really nice.

“How long have you had a crush on me?”

She fought the urge to call him adorable, with his crush, and sticky up hair but she was a grown up.

“I first saw you … like six months ago? So since then?”

“Six months ago?!”

“You were talking on your phone in the elevator, you didn’t notice me I was in there with my buddy Clint. I had long hair at the time, black hoodie, doing all I could to go unnoticed. But you, you were like, this beautiful surprise. You were wearing a blue dress and I don’t know, I just remembered how lovely you looked. Didn’t know who you were till you came to yell at me about Ruby though, which is a shame ‘cause she likes you.”

She hid her smile in his chest then.

“So you both have crushes on me.”

“Nah Ruby has a liking, not a crush. She loves only me.”

“Hey, who was constantly crying outside my bedroom window to get in for snuggles?”

“Well,” he laughed, “that would have been me but I’m less creepy these days. Plus I’m pretty sure that’s illegal for humans.”

She slapped him playfully then.

“She _snuggled_ with me, Bucky.”

He faked gasped.

“That little traitor. No tuna for a week!” he exclaimed and she moved and kissed him again.

“I’m glad we met,” she admitted quietly. And he looked at her, something soft and safe in the look he gave her.

“Me too. I’m really glad we did this, too. We should do this again, in like, half an hour give or take,” he faked an estimated guess and she laughed. At that her phone beeped. She knew her phone was on the coffee table, and she was crazy about things going unchecked, so she slipped out of bed, and went to get it.

When she came walking back he was sitting up, hands behind his head.

“Now that’s a view and a half, Peg,” wiggling his brows because he was a giant nerd.

“It’s Angie. She wants to know, and I quote ‘Did Bucky get lucky because I’m about to.’ _Smiley face, winky face, praise hands, smiley face.”_ Peggy just shook her head.

“C’mere. Gimme that,” he asked, holding his hand out for the phone. She gave it to him and climbed back into her now warm bed. She could get used to that, too.

“Sex selfie with me, it’ll give ‘em a laugh.”

Peggy loved that idea. Mostly because she wanted to prove to Angie she was not an old-no-fun-having-old-lady friend. So they selfied like nerds with sex hair.

It took all of three seconds to receive a text back. It was all shocked face emojis. They both laughed and discarded Peggy’s phone for the rest of the night.

“So, up to anything tomorrow?” he asked.

So okay they were doing this then?

“Nah, you?”

He blushed a little then and she not so secretly loved it. She petted down his crazy hair before he spoke.

“Nah,” he repeated her word. “It’s just I met this great chick and I’d really like to take her out on a real date with like, cliched shit and stuff because I haven’t done cliched shit in a while and I’d like to, if she’d like to. Maybe.”

“Maybe she hasn’t done cliched shit in a while too, maybe she misses it?”

He smiled.

“Yeah?”

“Totally.”

And yeah, maybe they could do that the next day, and maybe the day after. He wanted to, and surprisingly, so did she. Wonders would never cease, she thought. Her mother always did say she’d wind up a cat lady, but if this was how it happened, she was more than happy to let it.

So the next morning when they were still sound to the world and the cat crying started, Bucky mumbled something about ‘Nat lets her out…’ before turning over, but Peggy had other ideas. She opened the window and let her in, she instantly jumped on the bed.

“Well, what?” she asked, slightly defensive, petting the fur ball. “I let her owner into my bed, it’s only fair I let her in too.” And with that they, all cat napped, with Ruby settling for her own space at their feet, and her owner settling for spooning Peggy.

If she had realised this was all it took to stop the crying she’d have done it months ago.


End file.
